One of the ironies of Broken is that the super-smart, self-assured and utterly bewitching performance of its young star Eliose Laurence is so brilliant, it actually exposes the film around her for the crock of hooey it really is.

By the end, it's like Brookside on speed, hurtling round corners from one crisis to another, barely able to catch its breath. O'Rowe has done good work before – Intermission, Boy A – but this nervous breakdown of a movie will be best forgotten.

What for most of the time is an engaging state-of-the nation piece in the manner of the late Alan Clarke finally erupts into unpersuasive, blood-drenched melodrama that is no doubt intended as a wake-up call to a troubled country.